Hit Your Sweet Spot: Diabetes Management

30 April 2025   By Carin Clegg, APD

What Is Diabetes?

It is a medical condition where our body has trouble keeping our blood sugar levels at the right level.

Who’s Who With Diabetes: Glucose, Insulin and The Pancreas

Glucose: Glucose is a type of sugar, or fuel, that is needed by our muscles, and more importantly, our brain.  Sugar molecules can be joined together to make long chains called carbohydrates. Carbohydrate foods are starchy or sugary foods.  When we eat carbohydrates, we break them down into smaller building blocks, i.e. glucose, to use as fuel.

The Pancreas: is the organ that produces the insulin from it’s beta-cells. It sneakily sits behind your stomach

Insulin: Is a hormone. Insulin is the key that unlocks our brain and muscle cell doors to let glucose in to be used for energy.

Are there different types of Diabetes?

There are a number of different types of Diabetes, but by far the most common types are the ones known as “Type 1”, “Type 2” and “Gestational”.

Type 1 Diabetes: Or Insulin-Dependent Diabetes, can develop at any age. It usually develops due to an autoimmune reaction which has destroyed the insulin-producing Beta-cells in the pancreas. This means that the pancreas can no longer produce insulin and injectable insulin needs to be taken as medication in order for the glucose to get out of the bloodstream and into the cells to be used for energy.

Type 2 Diabetes: Or Non-Insulin Dependent Diabetes develops, as a result of “insulin resistance.”   Insulin resistance occurs when adequate insulin can be produced but it has trouble unlocking the brain and muscle cell doors.  Many people with Type 2 Diabetes will take medication to help their insulin unlock the cell doors and let the glucose in. Exercise is also really good at doing this and is often prescribed as part of your diabetes management with an Exercise Physiologist. Many people with Type 2 Diabetes may also need to take insulin as part of their daily treatment regime.

Gestational Diabetes: Is a type of insulin-resistance that can develop during pregnancy. Often the Diabetes will “go away” after the baby is born, but it is common for the mother will develop Type 2 Diabetes sometime later.

Signs and Symptoms of Diabetes

The three classic symptoms of undiagnosed Diabetes are increased hunger, increased thirst and increased urination. Sometimes people with Diabetes, or their families, notice other signs such as irritability, poor wound healing, or tiredness and lethargy.

Diabetes can affect many systems of the body if diabetes is not managed well:

• the vascular system (heart, blood and blood vessels). Diabetes can lead to poor circulation, loss of feeling in fingers and toes and make it more likely to develop a wound or ulcer that do not heel quickly. Sometimes the only way to cure these ulcers is to amputate the part of the body where the ulcer has formed.  Diabetes can also increase a person’s risk of having a heart attack or stroke.
• Eyes: high glucose levels can damage the eyes and cause blindness
• Kidney: the kidneys filter the blood and high levels of large glucose molecules make it more difficult of the kidneys to do their job and can contribute to kidney failure.

Should people with Diabetes cut carbohydrates from their diet?

Absolutely not!  Complex carbohydrates in foods such as wholegrains (brown rice, high fibre cereals, grainy bread etc) sweet potatoes, fresh fruit and dairy foods a great source of the glucose energy that our cells need as well as other essential vitamins and minerals.  Complex carbohydrates or low GI carbohydrates, take longer to digest or break up into single glucose molecules, therefore they give a slow and sustained release of fuel for long lasting energy, assisting blood sugar levels to stay within the normal range.

It is also important to eat balanced meals and eat sensible portions according to your body’s need in order to avoid too much glucose The key is to try to space the carbohydrates out over the day to reduce the “spikes” of glucose.

Diabetes Australia recommends that people with Diabetes should start with the Australian Dietary Guidelines to guide them on what and how much to eat.

Managing Diabetes with Lifestyle Medicine

When someone has been diagnosed with pre-diabetes, insulin resistance, impaired glucose tolerance or Diabetes, the best way to manage these conditions is to look at the lifestyle factors affecting blood sugar control- diet and exercise - and receive expert assessment, education and management from an Accredited Practicing Dietitian and Exercise Physiologist.  Diabetes is a condition that can be managed well when the person is in control of their food choices and healthcare.

The exercise guidelines recommend enjoying physical activity daily including some weight bearing activity it is important to seek expert guidance from an Exercise Physiologist to assess your current fitness levels, help you know what exercises, in what intensity and duration you can do and stay safe.

As Dietitians, our job is to educate you on all thing’s nutrition-related to diabetes, and most importantly provide you with support to make lifestyle changes.  Making changes is hard.  It can take a good 9 months for a lifestyle change to become normal, and changing eating habits often involve many small steps. In giving the best standard of care as Dietitians, we also encourage people with Diabetes to get their eating habits checked every 6-12 months.

So ask your GP for referrals to your Accredited Practicing Dietitian and Exercise Physiologist today, to keep yourself or your loved ones on the best path to living well with Diabetes.